


but it's alright, cos being your punchline still is something

by WattStalf



Series: Pokemon OCs [7]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Blackmail, Blow Jobs, Boss/Employee Relationship, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Loss of Virginity, Manipulation, Miscommunication, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unrequited Love, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:55:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25041253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: Faba has made a big mistake with the girl he promoted to his assistant. Vicia seemed quiet and innocent, and easy enough to manipulate with promises of promotions. He had no idea that she would be the type to blackmail him to get what she wants...or that she would be so insufferably obnoxious. But now he's stuck with her, or else she might reveal what happened in her interview...Vicia has never had a lot of friends before, so the sudden attention from her superior is one of the most exciting things to ever happen to her. She isn't sure why Faba puts up with her, but it isn't long before she finds herself falling for him...
Relationships: Aether Foundation Employee/Sauboh | Faba, Kotone | Lyra/Wataru | Lance
Series: Pokemon OCs [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810798
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My Aether Foundation OC, just a garbage gal with a garbage taste in men. These two are both idiots in different ways, but we'll see if I can't get them together by the end (we know I will.)  
> Also some Johto characters might cameo in here? huhuh more on that later

The new intern mostly keeps to herself, and when she speaks, it is in a quiet voice, her head low and a hand in front of her mouth. She seems shy, most people agree, but Faba has seen the record of her interview, her transcripts from school, and all the other relevant records that tell him exactly what he needs to know about her. Shyness aside, she’s ambitious, the sort who has built herself up from nothing and is determined to do whatever is necessary to succeed.

In a way, she is a lot like him, except he never wasted time staring at the ground and covering his mouth when he spoke. No, she won’t make it very far like that, but if her records are anything to go off of, she might make it very far if she has the right sort of push. And if she has an opening presented to her, he has a feeling that she will jump into it, no questions asked.

Another important thing that he has noticed, that almost everyone has noticed, it seems, is that she is beautiful. She stares at the ground and covers her mouth when she speaks, but she is still beautiful, with long, full hair in a vibrant shade of magenta, and eyes that are a little bit darker that she hides behind her catty glasses. There is a small scar on her cheek, but other than that, her skin is flawless, and even in the same uniform that everyone else has to wear, he can’t help but notice her body, which is when the ideas really start to form.

Her name is Vicia, and if he were to pull the right sort of strings, she could work directly under him. He’s been in need of a good assistant for a while now, and it’s a chance that most would jump at, a position that would almost guarantee that they got noticed, that they had a real future here. Vicia would be a good fit for it, he’s sure, and if he’s right about her, then she would likely do absolutely anything for a job like that.

So now all that remains is to invite the shy, cute intern to his office, lock the doors, and find out just how willing is she to do what it takes to move up in the world. If she is as ambitious as he thinks she is, she will take this opportunity. She is a lot like him, in a lot of ways, but he never kept his head down and never waited for opportunities to come to him. He was cutthroat; she will be easy to use however he pleases.

~X~

She notices the way he locks the door before he comes back to his desk. He does not go to sit behind it, and instead stands in front of it while he talks to her. Vicia seemed eager enough to have a private meeting with him, and by now, she must understand what his intentions are.

“I’m looking for an assistant,” he says. “I’m sure you understand how beneficial a position like that could be for someone like you. You’d be given better opportunities, noticed more often than most of the others, perhaps even considered for promotions…”

“I understand,” she says, her voice quiet, her hand in front of her mouth.

“You’ve impressed me a lot, Vicia.”

For the first time, she looks up at him, dead on, her eyes wide. Her mouth opens, and almost immediately, her hand snaps up to cover it. When she stares at him like this, he can see just how bright her eyes are. She really is one of the more beautiful girls that they’ve brought in recently.

“I  _ have _ ?!” Her voice comes out louder than he expected, louder than he’s used to from her, and there is a hint of roughness there, a bit of gravel that he’d never noticed before, because she always speaks so softly.

“You have,” he replies with a nod. “Naturally, there has to be an interview process, and you have to prove to me that you’re really willing to take on such an important job, but I’m sure that you won’t have any trouble with that.” As he speaks, he steps closer to her, until he is brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “Will you, Vicia?”

“I...I  _ think _ so,” she replies, now staring at the ground again. “Are you asking me to... _ you know _ .”

Is she calling it  _ you know _ ? That’s adorable, honestly; it really just adds to the shy, innocent air that caught his interest to begin with. She wants to move ahead but needs someone else to help her with that, so she will likely do anything for him, all without making too much noise or causing too much trouble. Faba could not ask for a more perfect assistant, but first, he needs to make sure that he is not doing anything that could get himself into trouble.

“I’m not asking you to do anything that you don’t want to do, Vicia. I’m only offering you the chance to show me just how willing you are to do what it takes to impress me.”

“I-I got that part,” she mumbles, “I just want to make sure I don’t do anything to embarrass myself. So if you could just ask me outright, that might be better for me.”

“Vicia,” he says, shaking his head and smiling. “Oh, Vicia, what am I going to do with you?” Now, he wraps his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace that is hardly appropriate for coworkers, making sure that he is angled in such a way that she can feel his erection. He hears a sharp gasp from her, confirming that.

Stepping back, he is pleased to see her blushing and fighting a smile. Perhaps she’s into this for more than just the potential promotion. It could go either way, having a girl who adores him working for him, but if she is dedicated enough to her work, then she won’t cause any trouble for him. A quiet girl like her hardly seems like the sort to create too much trouble.

“I would do anything you needed me to, Mr. Faba,” she says, her voice steady, almost sultry, her hand still covering her mouth.

“I thought as much. That’s why I took such an interest in you, you know.”

“Do you...do you  _ like _ me?” she asks, and he sincerely hopes that having her adore him goes the best way possible, because her question pretty much confirms that she has already started to develop something of a crush on him.

“Of course I do. I value each and every one of you. Now, how about you show me what makes you stand out from the rest?” He places a gentle hand on her shoulder, trying to nudge her down, but before she starts to kneel, she flashes him a big, toothy grin.

“Aw, alright! How could I say no to that?” she asks, the gravel returning to her voice, and this time, she does not cover her mouth with her hand. Her eyes have brightened considerably, and her body seems to have relaxed, no longer so guarded. But the most noticeable thing about her transformation is her _ teeth _ , and suddenly he can understand exactly why she covers her mouth when she speaks. Each tooth comes to a sharp point, giving her a rather jagged and almost terrifying smile.

Suddenly, she does not seem quite as much like a soft spoken, shy intern, and more like a punk he might run into on the streets somewhere far away from his safe, pristine office. Vicia’s entire facade crumbles away, and she gets down on her knees, wasting no time in getting down to business.

Well, all of her  _ unusual _ traits aside, he can at least say that she is a quick worker. In moments, she has her lips wrapped around his cock, and he feels only a brief flash of fear, remembering how sharp her teeth are, before he is overcome with pleasure, relaxing and moaning softly as he lets her work her magic.

Faba has been in need of a good assistant for a while now, and Vicia is nothing like the girl he imagined to fit such a role. But Vicia is here now, giving him amazing, if a little clumsy, head, and is probably infatuated with him. It will be difficult to let her down gently and pass over her when looking for someone to fill this position, but she does such a good job sucking him off that he almost regrets that he will not be able to keep her around.

She even swallows without having to be told to, and pulls back, grinning and beaming up at him, looking like a puppy ready to be praised. On impulse, he reaches down to pet her, which she seems to like a lot, because she flashes him another toothy grin, one that makes him nearly shudder as he tries to forget where her mouth just was.

“Thank you for a lovely interview,” he finally says, deciding not to let her see just how shaken up her sudden transformation has him. From now on, he will keep his distance from her, make sure that this does not grow into anything more, and survive a bit longer without an assistant.

“No, thank you for inviting me here! I’m so glad you noticed me, really!” Now that she’s spoken up, it seems like she’s incapable of quieting back down. “It’s been real hard cos I’ve been trying to keep my head low and not freak anyone out, you know. People say I can be a little much, that’s something I’ve been trying to tone down, now that I’m a professional! But that means I just kinda fade into the background a lot, so I’m really glad you still noticed me.”

“Is that...so?” A  _ little _ much? With a face like  _ that _ ? Before, her scar was hardly noticeable, but when she’s smiling like that, it makes her look tough, makes her seem like the sort of girl who got a scar like that in a bar fight. Though she seems friendly enough, perhaps even a little stupid, though her grades suggest otherwise, Faba feels a little bit afraid of her when he looks at her for too long.

“It makes me feel real comfortable around ya, like I don’t have to be afraid to be myself!” she continues, before laughing, loud and carefree and definitely grating. “So, I’m just sayin’, if you want me to do more stuff like that, I can, any time. And don’t worry about discretion, I know that’s gotta stay between you and me.”

It’s good that she understands that, and he’s relieved that he doesn’t have to explain to her why nothing that’s happened between them can leave this room. He is ready to dismiss her with promises to seriously consider her for the position, and then perhaps look into making sure that they never work near each other again, when she continues.

“So, if you make me your assistant, you  _ definitely _ don’t have to worry about me telling anyone.”

If he makes her his assistant... _ if _ he makes her his assistant...if he makes her his assistant, then he doesn’t have to worry about her telling anyone. But if he doesn’t…?

Faba pales, feeling his blood go cold as Vicia continues beaming at him. She may seem like a simple girl, but what she just said can’t be an accident, and her friendly face right now holds a threat behind it. He has made a big mistake with this one, bigger than he ever could have imagined.

Vicia is planning on blackmailing him.


	2. Chapter 2

Vicia is on cloud nine when she leaves Faba’s office. He’d told her right then and there that she would start as his assistant the next day, and that he would do all the necessary paperwork to make it happen. She couldn’t resist crying, “Aww, yeah!” or giving him an excited hug before he dismissed her.

Things could not be going better for her. Not only did a very important man in the Aether Foundation take notice of her early on, not only did he offer her a job as his personal assistant, but he also  _ likes _ her. Enough to have her sneak into his office to give him a very unprofessional blowjob, even! These are the sorts of things she’s only ever heard about, that she never thought actually happened in real life, or if they did, she never thought they would happen to her.

Vicia considers herself very lucky to have been brought on here at all. Interviews are difficult for her, something that she has learned since finishing school. Her personality is a  _ little much _ , as she has often been told, and she knows that her appearance doesn’t help much either. As a kid and into her school years, she never really had friends, so rowdy that she scared other kids off, but she’s known for a long time that she wanted to work somewhere like this, and buried herself in schoolwork to make sure that she would qualify.

When the other kids in her hometown back in Johto went off on journeys, she began planning for this future, and it really feels as though she is finally starting to become the person she has always wanted to. Of course, her plans never specifically involved the whole sleeping around to get ahead thing, but she’s a simple girl, and she can’t deny that there is a certain excitement to it.

Plus, she likes Faba. She doesn’t know if it’s just that she’s impressed by his credentials, or ready to latch onto the first person who pays any attention to her, but she likes him. And she may be stupid about a lot of things, but she’s not so stupid that she doesn’t realize that he’s using her, and that him “liking” her doesn’t mean she’s found a boyfriend, or even a friend. It’s just the closest thing she’s had in a very long time, so she appreciates it, no matter what it may be.

No matter how he feels about her, she already likes him. She looks forward to working with him, and hopefully proving how “useful” she can be again.

~X~

The next day, Vicia comes to work with him. Faba submitted the necessary paperwork and got the transfer done as quickly as possible, not wanting to take so long that she decided to put more pressure on him. The last thing he needs right now is a scandal that causes him to mess up everything he has worked so hard to build. How could he have been so stupid to risk this? His confidence is going to be his undoing, if he isn’t careful, and now he has to be extra careful, because of Vicia.

He doesn’t want to risk giving her more material unless she decides to demand that of him, so on the first day, he gives her menial labor to do. With everything else that he does to try and make himself seem as important as possible, organization has gotten away from him, and he sets Vicia to getting things back in order, while he does his own work, observing her from time to time.

He has to admit, were it not for her personality, she would have been a welcome addition to his office. She’s no less beautiful than before, especially when she keeps her mouth shut or has her back to him, bending over to pick up something that she dropped...but he shakes his head, trying to keep his thoughts from growing too lecherous. That’s what got him into this mess to begin with, and his only hope of letting this blow over is keeping a low profile while he lets her use her position as his assistant to get wherever she needs to get in the company.

Unfortunately for him, she does not keep her mouth shut for very long, not seeming to notice that he’s trying to work. She asks him about where he went to school and when he started here, and his short answers don’t discourage her from continuing. Instead, she tells him all about where she’s from and where she went to school, and when she decided that she wanted to work with Pokemon.

“All my friends were going off on journeys, you know. Well, they weren’t really my friends, just kids from my town. I guess I kinda talked to some of them sometimes, like Lyra and stuff, but mostly not. Anyway, I was feeling pretty lonely, but then the professor gave me a Pokemon too! Even though I wasn’t planning on going on a journey, so I wouldn’t be lonely without the other kids!” She beams when she gets to this part of the story, forgetting her work for a moment. “So that’s why I decided to stay in school instead of becoming a trainer full time. I wanted to do something like he did, cos it helped me out so much.”

“How very kind of him,” Faba says a bit dismissively. Vicia doesn’t seem to notice his lack of interest, or at the very least doesn’t care, and gets back to work as she talks about her first Pokemon, and then the others after that, until she’s described her current team to him. Trainer or not, she certainly seems prepared for battles at any time.

She goes on and on like that throughout the day, and Faba hardly gets anything done, while Vicia manages to complete a surprising amount of cleaning even while talking. One thing that stands out to him is that, despite her obvious brilliance that she shows in her schoolwork, she actually seems to be rather stupid, and he wonders how someone like her could actually be clever enough to blackmail someone like him. For a moment, he considers the possibility that he may have jumped to the wrong conclusion, but he banishes that thought immediately.

He may have made a mistake in inviting her for the “interview,” but he is very rarely wrong, and he doubts that he would be wrong twice in one day. How she manages to be so smart and yet so stupid at the same time is a mystery, but it never hurts to be too careful, and he has to at least try to keep her happy, or else risk his entire career as a result of making her upset with him. If all she wants is a position as his assistant and some attention from time to time, then he supposes that he can give that to her, no matter how annoying she may be.

Though she drones on and on throughout the day, he eventually manages to adjust to it, finally able to buckle down and get work done, while tuning out her stories about school- he picks up something about her eating a styrofoam cup on a dare, or something, and immediately tunes back out- and before he knows it, the day is at an end, and she has done a spectacular job finishing up the cleaning and organizing that he has asked her to do. That being said, they are not particularly difficult tasks, but the fact that someone with a transcript like hers does not think herself above common work like that and is willing to give it her all either way certainly says good things about her work ethic.

Were it not for that personality, that voice, and those  _ teeth _ , Faba might be in an entirely different sort of danger by promoting her to his assistant. A hardworking, smart, earnest, and beautiful young woman who seems to recognize just how amazing he is would put him at quite the risk of falling in love, not that he has ever considered anything like that for himself before. He has always focused more on his career and getting ahead, certain that tying himself down with any sort of relationship would only hold him back from reaching his full potential.

Even so, Vicia could have been a very risky endeavor in that regard, and he is almost glad that she is as off putting as she is. At the very least, he knows that there is no chance of him ever falling in love with her, even if he is stuck with her from here on out, until she finds her next ladder to climb.


	3. Chapter 3

Vicia tries not to be disappointed that her first day working directly under Faba does not result in anything like her interview. She knows that it can’t be like that all the time, and that he did really need an assistant, not just someone to suck him off under his desk, or whatever else she may be fantasizing about. The work that she does for him is very important, even if it just feels like menial labor, and just getting to spend time with him was great. She was able to comfortably talk to someone for what feels like the first time since moving to Alola, and she feels even closer to him than before.

In the back of her mind, she reminds herself that Faba is simply using her, both for her labor and for the sex- if they even end up doing anything like that again, which she hopes that they do. She is happy enough with things as they are, so that does not bother her, but she has to remind herself of that whenever she can, so that she does not get too carried away, and allow herself to fantasize about Faba falling for her, like she thinks she may be falling for him.

Though she is only walking into her second day working for him, she already feels willing to do anything he asks of her, and is happy just to be able to be this close to him. It’s a nice feeling, leaving her completely giddy, and she realizes that this is only her second ever crush. Her first crush had been on her region’s champion, back when she was a kid, and then, she had gotten too focused on her studies, and not gotten close to anyone else to think about things like that.

Now, however, she realizes just how quickly Faba has managed to suck her in. Before he had ever approached her, he caught her eye from a distance, and she admired him quite a bit, upon learning how important he was to the foundation, so perhaps her crush began back then. Perhaps she has liked him for a while now, and the interview and her first day with him only caused her affections to deepen.

Whatever the case, she shows up for her next day of work bright and early, waiting for him in his office when he arrives for the day. Though she has promised herself to take this seriously and not concern herself with her own desires, she does wonder if there is any chance that the two of them might get up to more things like what they did during her interview, and she wonders if Faba is simply waiting for her to make a move, or if he really is just that busy with work that he can’t worry himself with her right now.

If it is the latter, then she really shouldn’t do anything to bother him, but if it is the former, then it will be all her fault if neither of them are able to get any action, and not only will she be left dissatisfied, but so will Faba, and he might be very disappointed in her for not taking the initiative to take what she wants, and to realize what he wants, and he might think that he made a mistake hiring her on as his assistant.

She is already imagining him kicking her to the curb and replacing her with someone hotter and more willing, who already knows exactly what he wants without needing to be asked, before he has even sat down at his desk. No matter what, she has to make sure that that does not happen, and she has to make her second day the most memorable day ever.

“Say, Mr. Faba,” she speaks up, after doing some quiet cleaning. It is the quietest she has been since starting this job the day before, but that is because she was lost in thought, trying to figure out a way to seduce him. However, she does not know the first thing about seduction, so she finally decides to be blunt. “How busy are ya right now?”

“Incredibly so, Vicia,” he replies, without even looking up from his desk. “You should know that.”

“Well, yeah, but I mean...too busy for a quick break?”

“Why would I need to take a break? I’m making good progress today. Better than yesterday, actually,” he says, and he says it like he is trying to make a point, but she is not sure what that point is.

“I’m just saying, maybe we could...you know...I thought I could help ya relax for a little while!” she says, knowing that this is about as subtle as she is capable of being. If he doesn’t get it  _ now _ , then she does not know what she is going to do.

Finally, he looks up at her, studying her from head to toe, probably taking note of the grin on her face, finally reading into her intentions. She smiles a bit wider when she notices this, and adds, with a waggle of her brows, “Like in my interview. If you want, I mean.”

Faba sighs, and for a moment, she thinks that she has made the wrong call by putting the moves on him today. Maybe he really  _ is _ just too busy to do things like that at work, and maybe he will be frustrated with her for being so needy. She was afraid that she might lose her position if she did not prove herself by cozying up to him today, but maybe the cozying will turn out to be her downfall!

But then he stands up and says, “Get out of that uniform, then.”

“O-oh, ya mean... _ that _ ...with  _ me _ ,” she muses, mostly to herself, growing more excited. Before, she had been so turned on by the whole ordeal that she could hardly stand it, and she has to admit that she has been hoping for this sort of attention from him, but she was not expecting it, and is even more excited to know that he will be going  _ that _ far with her. Surely that must mean he values her quite a bit as an employee.

“Yes, come on, we don’t have all day. I really should be working right now, you know,” he says, waving a hand, and without hesitating she begins to strip out of her uniform, with no time to be shy about her body. But judging from the way that he looks at her once she  _ is _ stripped down, she has nothing to worry about there, and she is proud of herself, leaning back against his desk as he directs her.

“Have you ever done this before?” he asks. “Before, I would have thought you hadn’t, but I bet you have.”

She has no idea what he means by that, or what she did before to make him think that she was a virgin, but she hopes that the reason he assumes she is not is because she did such a good job sucking him off during her interview. Either way, she does not want to question him, and simply shakes her head, saying, “It’ll be my first time. Last time was...my first time doing that, too.”

“What?” He pauses for a moment, in the middle of undoing the bottom buttons of his long coat. “None of your boyfriends have ever gone that far with you?”

“I, uh. I’ve never had a boyfriend before, Mr. Faba. I told you before, I think, that I never had a lot of friends? Well, I definitely never got close enough to anyone to say I had a boyfriend, or anything like that.”

“Now that you mention it, I suppose it isn’t  _ that _ surprising, but…” he mutters, trailing off, thinking about something. “You were awfully eager to throw your firsts away on me, weren’t you?”

“I don’t think I’ve thrown anything away,” she says, beaming at him. “So far, you’ve been nothin’ but nice to me, Mr. Faba. Though, ya know, it would be nice to maybe...have my first kiss first.” She blushes a bit despite herself, not sure if she is too good at pretending to be confident for him.

Sighing again, he says, “You want your first kiss to be with me too?”

“If you kiss me, I won’t tell anyone!” she quickly assures him, not sure if that is what he is worried about, but also having no idea what he  _ could _ have to worry about. Unless he simply doesn’t want to kiss her, in which case, she won’t force the issue.

But his eyes widen then and he shakes his head quickly, before switching to nodding and saying, “Right, right, there’s no need to tell anyone about any of this, Vicia, dear. And if it’s a first kiss you want, then it’s a first kiss you’ll get, I promise!”

“Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Faba.” She gives him a toothy grin before closing her eyes and puckering up, waiting for him to lean down and press his lips to hers. When he does, she can’t hold back and throws her arms around his neck, kissing him hard and clumsy, not sure what she is doing but sure that she does not want to stop any time soon. She aches from arousal, and her chest feels like it aches too, just from how much she likes him.

This has definitely got to be one of the best days of her life, and he hasn’t even started fucking her yet.

But then, as he kisses her, his hand drifts down, between her legs, and she whimpers when she feels him touch her for the first time, surprised but not at all displeased. She leans into his touch and moans into his kiss, letting herself get carried away with everything that he does to her, overwhelmed and overjoyed, so excited that she can hardly stand it. Though she has nothing that she can compare this to, she has to believe that Faba must know what he is doing, to be able to make her feel this good, but then, she has also been very excited just to be able to get close to him, so perhaps her own bias comes into play.

Whatever the case may be, she is glad that it does feel so good, that showing him how willing she is to do whatever he needs as his assistant has so many benefits for her as well. How she is supposed to avoid falling completely head over heels for him in a situation like this, she has no idea. The only thing that she does know in this moment is that she would do anything for Faba, and that she would be content to stay like this forever.

He leaves her leaning back against his desk once he has broken the kiss, continuing to finger her and leaning over her, putting his lips beneath her ear, nibbling and murmuring, “How was that for a first kiss, Vicia? Not too bad, right?”

“Ah!” she squeaks, as he tugs on her earlobe with his teeth. “M-Mr. Faba that was...that was real good, it’s all so good, Mr. Faba, I…”

“There we go, just like that. I’ll take good care of you, so there’s no need to worry about that, and no need to even  _ think _ about being unhappy with me,” he says, before trailing his lips down her neck, kissing and biting and making her knees feel weak, leaving her glad that she has the desk behind her to support her, or else she might collapse without warning.

Finally, he pulls back, so that he can get the bottom of his coat pushed back and undo his pants, Vicia watching eagerly until he has pushed himself up against her again, spreading her legs so that she can feel the head of his cock, prodding against her. She shudders, so excited now that she can hardly stand it, so glad that she does not have to wait a moment longer for him.

“You’re ready, aren’t you?” he asks, hesitating for a moment.

Truth be told, she has no way of knowing if she is ready or not, but she  _ wants _ to be ready, and that has to count for something. She is not going to wait a moment longer, intent on figuring this out as she goes, and as she follows Faba’s lead. Nodding, she says, “I’m ready, Mr. Faba.”

“That’s just what I like to hear,” he replies, before jerking his hips forward a bit, and pushing inside of her with a low groan.

For a moment, Vicia is too overwhelmed by it all to have much of an impression, beyond the fact that it hurts a little bit more than she was expecting. But she won’t say anything like that to Faba, not wanting him to think that she is unable to handle it, so she tries to clear her mind of the pain, tries to forget the pain entirely, and tries to relax her body, to make it easier for him to fit himself inside of her.

When she does this, it does seem to be easier, and she continues to take deep, steady breaths, not letting the sudden discomfort get the better of her anymore, until the pain begins to fade entirely, and she is not worried about it at all. And, as the pain fades, she discovers that she actually feels pretty good, beneath it.

So good, in fact, that it is no time at all before she has given herself over entirely to the pleasure, letting her head fall back as she moans, struggling to find her voice to speak. “Mm, ah...M-Mr. Faba, that really is…”

“It is- ah- isn’t it, Vicia?” he barely manages to gasp out, sounding as though he is struggling to speak quite a bit himself. She hopes that means he is enjoying this just as much as she is, that he is just as happy in this moment as she is. And beyond all of that, she is just so  _ happy _ that this is how her first time is, that it gets to be with him, and that he is here with her, groaning over top of her as he begins to work his hips against hers, soon losing himself in it, so that he is unable to speak to her anymore.

But Vicia is beyond the point of speech herself, so she does not mind, glad that he loves it so much, not needing him to speak to her at all to be happy with this moment. She tries to move her hips in time with his, trying to match the pace of his thrusts, not only for him, but because she feels so desperate for more that she hopes she can somehow satisfy herself like this. Whimpering and gasping out, she can feel herself growing closer, but it is so much more intense than anything that she has ever experienced on her own, so much more than she  _ ever _ would have been able to reach while laying alone in bed, just thinking about Faba.

When she comes, she cries out a little too loud, but a the time, she can't actually concern herself with that, too lost in the pleasure, unlike anything she has ever felt before, too much to take in all at once, and so overwhelmed that she barely notices Faba pulling out, beyond the sudden emptiness she is left with as he comes.

For a moment, she is left to lean back against the desk, doing her best to catch her breath while he stands beside her, a hand against the wall as he pants. When he has finally steadied himself, all he says is, “Alright, your first task for the day will be cleaning yourself, and then everything else, up. Then, I have some files that need sorting. I’ll explain the order they need to go in, and I’m sure you can figure it out from there.”

Vicia nods, a bit dazed still, and absolutely certain that this must be what falling love really feels like.


	4. Chapter 4

In terms of disasters, Faba definitely could have done a lot worse than Vicia, he supposes. Her obnoxious behavior aside, and the constant worry that he might somehow accidentally push her to expose their relationship and ruin everything that he has built for himself aside, things are definitely not as bad as they could be. She picks up on her job very quickly, learning a lot in her position, and quickly able to do more than just busy work, able to genuinely assist him in his work, as well as fill in for him, when it comes to checking in on those who work beneath him.

The sex isn’t bad, either. Though he mostly keeps up with it at first because she continues propositioning him, he can’t deny he enjoys it just as much as he enjoys what they did during her interview, and soon enough, he is bold enough to make moves on her as well, hoping that she will say something to hint if she does not want it, and will use it as an excuse to expose him. So far, she seems to enjoy it all just as much as he does. That must have been why she kept pushing him to do it in the first place, when he had been planning on backing off and putting distance between the two of them.

At the end of the day, he just can’t help it if he is completely irresistible, and her rather obvious crush on him must be her motivation for using underhanded tactics to not only keep her position as his assistant, but also keep that relationship sexual, rather than simply using him to further her own career. It is a complicated situation, and one that he can hardly make sense of, but in terms of disasters, Faba is fairly certain that he could have done a lot worse than the one that he has found himself in.

As a side effect of becoming more confident in her work, Vicia has also become a bit more outgoing, and more often, he sees her talking without covering her mouth, even when she is not talking to him, and she does not work nearly as hard to keep her voice low, steadily letting her actual personality shine through, regardless of who she is dealing with. Naturally, the general opinion around the foundation is that she is a lot more obnoxious than anyone originally would have guessed, and he is sure that there are plenty who wish that she would quiet back down.

But the change isn’t all bad, as she seems a lot happier ever since she stopped trying to suppress her personality. At least, that is what Faba  _ thinks _ might constitute as a positive, but since he is in the camp that thinks she is better off being quiet, he is not really sure why her happiness should matter that much to him. In fact, the happier she is, the harder it is for her to shut up, and she makes concentration very difficult whenever she gets off on one of her tangents. At the very least, she makes up for that in her own productivity, assisting him as an assistant should to make sure that he never falls behind- often getting ahead, actually- and then, she is always willing to shut up when he gives her something else to do.

All in all, it is not a bad arrangement, even if she is far from his ideal woman. Beggars can’t be choosers, and if he had been more cautious when all of this started, then he never would have ended up in this position to begin with, and might have been able to hold out for a more ideal assistant. That being said, there is no guarantee that he ever would have met someone that not only met his physical standards, but also was willing, as Vicia was, to do such a thing just to guarantee a promotion. Even if she had her own dark plans in the matter, not quite suiting how simple she seems at a glance, she was at least gorgeous and willing to suck him off without so much as a second thought.

Her crush is flattering, anyway. Even if he stands no chance of reciprocating, what with that  _ voice _ and that  _ smile _ and the way she  _ never shuts up _ , it is still nice to be adored by someone, and to finally have somebody that appreciates him for how amazing he really is. At times, he worries if people might be able to figure out their arrangement simply because of how obvious her crush is, but he does his best to make sure that he never treats her with anything other than professional curtness outside of his office, so she simply looks like the naive assistant with an unrequited crush on her oblivious boss.

As long as he can keep that image up, he does not think he has to worry about anyone on the outside figuring things out. Then, he only has to make sure to keep Vicia happy, and she will continue working for him without saying a word, and as he grows more and more used to her voice as background noise, he becomes even more convinced that this was not that big of a mistake after all. He would not go so far as to say that he likes the girl, but at this point, he can at least say that he does not mind having her around.

~X~

Vicia was somewhat popular when she first began working here, whether she realizes it or not. That is what made Faba take notice of her, and he knows that he is not the only man who noticed her based on her beauty alone. Her popularity has begun to fade since she began opening her mouth, which at least eases the jealousy that may have come up once it became obvious that she only had eyes for her boss. Still, new employees notice her early on, always at his side, and when she isn’t saying anything, when she is not gazing up at him with lovesick eyes and an open-mouthed grin, it might be easy to fall under her spell.

Faba accidentally overhears a conversation detailing such an incident, stopping outside of the room he was about to enter when he hears one of the employees inside say, “Oh, you’re talking about Vicia, aren’t you?”

“Is that her name?” another asks, and Faba decides not to walk into the room until he hears the rest of this, not sure what compels him to eavesdrop even as he does it.

“You’re talking about the girl with the long, kinda purple hair, right? Works with Faba?”

“Yeah! The really pretty one, like I said! What’s her deal?” he asks,trying to sound nonchalant. Faba can see, in his mind, a faceless employee in the basic uniform, leaning back as he tries to conceal just how interested he really is, in finding out if this girl is single.

“I told you to ask me anything and that I’d help you out, cos you’re new. You want my advice on Vicia? Don’t even think about it,” he replies. “Spend five minutes talking to her, and you’ll see what I mean.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Have you ever heard her voice before?”

“Or seen her teeth?” a new voice asks, and the two of them start laughing.

“Honestly, you’d be lucky if you managed to get out of a conversation with her after just five minutes. Once she starts, she never stops.”

“So, what?” the new guys asks. “She’s obnoxious?”

“Incredibly so. So, unless you like that sort of thing, you might as well forget about her. It’s a shame that a body like that is wasted on her mouth.”

Faba feels strange, listening to them talk about her like this. While it’s true that they are saying the same sorts of things that he has thought the entire time he’s known her, he still feels  _ off _ , listening to them talk about how she’s hot until she opens her mouth, how she has a great body and a terrible personality, how she isn’t worth the time of day unless you’re prepared to listen to her ramble on and  _ on _ . He can’t explain why, but he does not like listening to them insult her, or even talk about how attractive they think she is, and he almost wants to open the door, not sure what he would do if he were to enter the conversation right now anyway.

If he were to defend her, that would look weird, not to mention a little pathetic on his part. He serves to gain nothing from coming to her defense, and they would question his reasoning either way. Even having her as his assistant does not seem like enough of an excuse to reveal that he has been eavesdropping, before…what? Lying to them and saying that she is not obnoxious? Telling them that they should not lust after the very same coworker that he has been secretly fucking in his office?

And then one of the young men says, “Even if she weren’t like that, no one would stand a chance with her anyway. For whatever reason, she’s obsessed with Faba.”

“She’s probably just putting on a front. She’s his assistant, isn’t she? I bet she’s just pretending to like him so that he’ll like  _ her _ , and put in a good word,” the newbie suggests.

“That might be true, but you’d think she’d get the hint eventually, since he definitely doesn’t flirt back. Unless they’re banging in his office, he barely pays any attention to her. I’m pretty sure she actually  _ likes _ him.”

“And if she does,” his friend adds, “then no one stands a chance. She only has eyes for  _ him _ .”

He walks away then, not wanting to listen to whatever they might say next. There is a pretty big chance that they might start questioning her taste next, and if that is the case, it will be impossible to resist opening the door, and letting them know that he heard them mocking him. Better to leave now, when he can keep it vague, when he can still resist the temptation that has been building long before he even came up. It is irritating enough, not understanding why he has such a strong urge to defend Vicia, without feeling the need to defend  _ himself _ on top of everything, and reveal that he not only knows that she has a crush on him, but that he thinks that she is completely justified in that, and that she  _ should _ have a crush on him.

And somewhere, beneath all of that, is a very strange, airy sort of feeling, whenever he remembers the way they said that no one would stand a chance with her, because  _ for whatever reason, she’s obsessed with Faba _ . He has to actually fight a smile, realizing that she is considered unattainable because of him, that, even if someone could look past her personality, that they would still be discouraged, because she is actually seen as  _ his _ , even if it does not look like he is aware of that, or does anything to encourage her.

It makes no sense for him to be this happy right now, and yet he is. He is just as happy as he is irritated, and the confusion that comes with both the happiness and the irritation only makes him feel even  _ more _ irritated, and with no real outlet for those feelings. Forgetting what he even left his office for in the first place, he quickly returns, to find Vicia at his desk where he left her, working on the computer, finishing something up for him. That’s right; she suggested that he go ahead and take his break, promising that she could finish up what he was doing, and that he could relax for a little while.

Right now, Faba can only think of one way that he wants to relax.

“Mr. Faba? Are you back already?” she asks, looking up. “It’s only been a couple minutes. I’m almost done, so you can go back out if you want to. I really should be done any minute now, though! No need to worry about that!”

She always says so much more than is necessary, completely incapable of shutting her mouth once she has opened it. She is every bit as irritating as the boys say she is, but when this causes him to remember their words, that weird ache in his chest returns, and he just wants to forget them, wants to keep her all to himself for a little while.

“You can take a break now too, if you want to,” he says, giving her what he hopes is a pointed look. If she decides to actually go on break, and leave him alone, he can finish the work, though he will still have no outlet for his frustrations.

But fortunately for him, Vicia is not that much of an idiot, and she stands up with a now-familiar smirk on her face, one that he is pretty sure she thinks is seductive, and she wastes no time in stripping herself of her uniform. He had not said that he wanted to fuck her specifically, and for all she knows, he is going to push her on her knees and make him suck her off, but he is honestly glad that she assumed this, because he does not want to do anything one-sided right now.

None of his impulses make even a bit of sense to him, but Faba has given up on trying to think about them, just wanting to be buried inside of Vicia already, so that he can fuck her hard enough to forget everything else. He sits back in his chair so that she can straddle his lap, and he lets her kiss him, for as long as she wants to. As he runs his hands up and down her back, he suddenly remembers one of her childhood stories, a tangent she went on back before he got as good at tuning out her voice as he is now.

As she begins to bounce on his cock, he remembers her talking about how she did not actually have friends growing up, about how she has always been a bit of a loner, because she’s  _ a little much _ . He does not know why he thinks about that now, or why he feels such a sharp pang that he is suddenly no longer interested in fucking her hard enough to forget his own problems, instead content with wrapping his arms around her shoulders and letting her take things at her own pace, just as long as they can be close for a little while.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Lyra are in this chapter lmao

It has been a long time since Vicia has been back to her hometown, and she rarely hears from anyone from back then. Occasionally, her parents will make the token effort to make it seem like they care about what is going on in her life, and sometimes the professor is interested in hearing updates, since he is the one who supported her from the beginning. She has not heard from the other kids, who went off on their journeys without her, since they were still kids, and she has no idea what became of them.

She certainly does not expect to run into Lyra in Alola, but she does one day, while running an errand on Melemele island. Lyra has grown quite a bit since the last time they saw each other, but Vicia still recognizes her. It helps that, even having grown up, and even wearing tropical vacation clothes, she still has her hair in those childish pigtails, her signature hairstyle for as long as Vicia can remember.

“Lyra?” she calls out, and the young woman turns to look at her, confused and then surprised, as Vicia waves her over.

“Vicia? Is that you?” she asks, and Vicia is glad that she is also still recognizable even after all these years.

“It is! What are you doing all the way out here?” she asks, grinning.

“I could ask you the same question! Are you on vacation?”

“No, I live around here now!” she replies, letting some pride slip into her tone. “I work with the Aether Foundation now.”

“I didn’t even know you left New Bark,” Lyra says. “I haven’t been back much since I left, though.”

“I started studying not long after you left, and I moved around to go to better schools, and then I ended up here! It’s…more of an internship right now, but I’m an assistant to this really awesome guy there, and everything is going really well for me!” she brags, wanting Lyra to think highly of her, and her steadily developing career.

“That’s great, I’m glad things are going so well for you.” The conversation starts to trail off then. They haven’t seen each other for years, and even when they were kids, they were not exactly friends, so it makes sense that Lyra does not have much to say to her. But then, Vicia realizes that she has only talked about herself so far.

“But what about you? You haven’t told me what you’re doing in Alola,” she says.

“Oh, well, actually, I got married,” she says, holding up her left hand to reveal the wedding band. “I’m on my honeymoon.”

“You got married?! Congratulations! Who is it? Is it someone I know? Is it Ethan? No, wait, it’s probably someone you met during your travels!” She is so excited by the news that she does not give Lyra much of a chance to respond, but Lyra also does not seem to have an answer, and when Vicia finally realizes that she is rambling and needs to settle down, she still looks like she is thinking about what to say.

“Are you ready to go now, darling?” The man that walks out of the nearby store calls this out, his eyes focused only on Lyra, barely seeming to register that she is talking to anyone else, even as he walks up to her and puts his arm around her. Vicia looks up at what must be the husband, only to realize that he actually looks incredibly familiar.

“Wait, are you Lance?” she asks, jaw practically hitting the ground. She definitely never thought she would see him here, much less with his arm around Lyra, who must be at least half his age, making it very obvious that the two of them are newlyweds.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what I was about to tell you,” Lyra says, finally remembering how to talk. “You remember the Indigo champion, right? We just got married!”

Remember him? Of course Vicia would remember her first crush, not that she’s going to say something like that to his wife, and definitely not with him standing right next to her. Instead, she just grins, trying to hide her confusion as she says, “Well, that’s great! You look cute together!”

“Thank you,” says Lance. “Is this a friend of yours, darling?”

“Have I mentioned Vicia to you before?”

“I believe you have. From your hometown, right?”

“Right,” Vicia answers. “I’m, uh, really pleased to meet you.” She does not want it to show, but she is actually starting to deflate a little. Though she has a lot to brag about in terms of work, and though she knows that is plenty to be proud of regardless of how her love life is looking, she still feels a lot less impressive now that she knows that Lyra married Lance. And even knowing that none of it really matters, she still feels like she has to do something to make herself look good again, which is the only explanation for what she does next. 

“Actually, I’ve been seeing someone for a while myself. You remember the guy I mentioned earlier? The one I’m an assistant to?”

~X~

“Mr. Faba, I think I did something really bad, and you’re going to be mad at me, but I need a really, really big favor,” whines Vicia, and he can already tell that she is exactly right, that he will be mad at her, and also that this is going to be more trouble than it’s worth. And he would tell her no before she even asked, but he reminds himself of her earlier threats of blackmail, and decides that he at least needs to hear her out.

“You remember my old friend Lyra, right? And how I said I used to have a crush on Lance, you know, from the Indigo League?” He barely remembers, but he nods, rather than making her launch into that back story again. “They got married! I just saw them, they’re here on honeymoon, and I was trying to brag about my job so I could impress her and stuff, but she married Lance! So I got kind of intimidated and wasn’t really thinking and I sort of told them I had a boyfriend from work and that, um, it was you, and they wanted to go on a double date while they were in town.”

“You told them we were dating?” is all he can manage to ask, the only important point he can pick out of her story.

“I didn’t mean to! It just kind of happened! And I know that we’re not, and that this is just a work thing and all that, but…but it would really mean a lot to me if you could fake it for just one night! Just one night, and then we can forget all about it, okay?” she asks, a pleading look in her eyes. “I just don’t want Lyra to figure out that I made the whole thing up.”

Vicia told one of her childhood…well, friends probably isn’t the right word, based on everything that she has told him, but she told someone that she knew in her childhood that she was dating him, and now that person has invited the two of them to go on a double date. And now she expects him to agree to go with her, begging him for a “favor,” even though he is fairly certain that this constitutes as a lot more than just a favor.

“Why can’t you just tell her that I’m busy?” he asks. “If they’re just here on vacation, then you can just make excuses until they leave.”

“B-but, but she…she married Lance, Mr. Faba! She married Lance!” she protests. She might have mentioned something like that during her sob story, but she had been talking so fast that he had missed the significance of the fact the first time around. Even now, he is not quite sure if she’s saying what he thinks he is.

“The champion of…where was it again…you know, that man?” he asks.

“Yes, yes! My first crush, Lance! The champion, he’s Lyra’s husband now, and I just…I just need to look good in front of her, please! I’m begging you, I’ll do anything?”

So, she really thinks bringing him along is going to boost her image that much? Then again, she does see him as an incredibly important man, and he supposes that that is true. It’s just that he isn’t sure if her little Johto friends would be capable of recognizing that. Really, he should just say no to her. It isn’t going to actually help her out that much in the long run, and he’s just taking the risk of being seen with her outside of work if he goes with her. He doesn’t owe her anything, so the best thing to do is to persuade her to simply tell them he can’t make it, and put an end to that.

~X~

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Lyra says with a smile. “Vicia told us about you earlier. You met through work, is that right?”

“I’m her superior, yes,” Faba replies. He is not at all impressed with either of them, not even the supposed champion. Perhaps it is just the years he has spent in Alola, the lack of a formal Pokemon league rubbing off on him, but he does not see the big deal about Lance.

“It’s a pleasure,” he says, extending his hand. Faba takes it, giving him a quick handshake while he sizes him up. This is Vicia’s first crush, huh? After agreeing to go with her, he had to get more detail on that, and why her friend married this man, but as it turns out, it was more of a celebrity crush, and she had never met him before. Lyra met him during her travels and the two hit it off, so it is really no more than a coincidence.

At first, he thought perhaps it was an issue of genuine jealousy, that Lyra had knowingly stolen Vicia’s love interest, but it was just a childhood crush, and meant absolutely nothing. Well, even if had meant something, he doubts that it would now. Lance does not seem like much up close, and Faba knows for a fact that Vicia is completely infatuated with him, and nobody else. Not that that matters to him in the slightest, but still, it is nice to know that there is no real competition.

“We have a table already, so follow us,” Lance continues, and the four set off to sit down.

Faba had every intention of telling her no, yet here he is anyway. For reasons completely unknown to him, he was not able to tell her no when she began desperately begging him to help her out, and she was able to get him to cave. He decides that he can do this one little thing for her, because the odds of them seeing anyone from Aether Paradise are pretty slim, and because she does do quite a lot for him as his assistant. Not only that, but somewhere in the middle of her begging, she mentions that she won’t tell anyone about it if he goes with her, and he really does not want to take his chances when he has managed to avoid setting her off enough to rat him out so far.

If all he has to do is take her on a date and pretend to be her boyfriend in front of the sub par man she was allegedly infatuated with as a child, then that is a small price to pay. And this way, he can show off a little bit, and remind her exactly why she is so infatuated with him now. Not because he cares about how she feels about him, but because he hopes that, the more she falls for him, the less likely she will be to want to expose them at any point.

That really is all there is to it.

But if he had known how painfully awkward the dinner would be, he never would have agreed to this. Vicia is talking a mile a minute, oblivious to how awkward it is and probably having the time of her life, but he can tell by their half-hearted nods and the looks they keep giving each other when they think he or Vicia won’t notice, that Lance and Lyra could not care less about what she has to say, or at least that they do not know what to make of her endless reserves of energy. Faba can’t say that he can’t relate to that, but it is so much more frustrating seeing it from someone that has known Vicia for years, and should know what to expect from her.

And Lance! From what Vicia has told him about the man, he fancies himself some sort of hero, an ally of justice for the Kanto and Johto regions, or something to that extent, though she may have been exaggerating that part a little bit. Either way, he certainly does not act like someone who cares about defending the little guy, not if he is going to brush off what someone from his own home region has to say. Especially when she is clearly a big fan, and clearly just excited, maybe a little nervous, which leads to her rambling.

Well, she still rambles a lot when she is calm, but even so, Faba does not see any excuse for behavior like this, and that is saying a lot, considering how rude he is on a daily basis, to anyone that he deems lesser than himself.

If they are going to be rude, then he can certainly return the favor, and show them just what he thinks of them. Vicia may think that she has to impress these two, but in his opinion, neither of them have done nearly enough to impress him, or even her, for that matter. What have they done for the conservation of Pokemon? Can they say that they have accomplished even half as much as he has in his position?

He may not know anything about what Lance actually does as a champion, and even less about Lyra’s career or personal life, but he has already deciding that he completely outclasses both of them, and that is enough. This whole ordeal is a waste of time, and Vicia, single or not, did not need to worry about trying to look good in front of them.

“You’re a fan, aren’t you, Faba?” Lance asks, and hearing his name snaps him out of his thoughts. Only now does Faba realize just how carried away he has gotten, and he wonders why it matters so much, or why he finds himself growing so defensive wherever Vicia is concerned. Certainly, he let himself get too carried away this time, because he did not even notice Lance managing to take control of the conversation, until he spoke directly to him.

“A fan of what, exactly?” he asks, sounding bored. He’d better not be asking if Faba is a fan of his.

“Of Flygon,” Lance replies, beaming as if he has figured out some great secret. Faba simply blinks at him, having no idea where he came up with such a thing. The table descends into an awkward silence before Lance clears his throat as continues as if nothing happened, continuing the story he has apparently been telling about a Flygon he is training. As if anyone cares about all that.

Honestly, he must be the most boring man alive. Perhaps Lyra simply has bad taste and that’s why she married him, but as for Vicia, he can’t make sense of why she would be so interested in him. Except it was just a childhood crush, maybe she is just as bored as he is right now, and he realizes that he much preferred it when her grating voice was dominating the conversation.

Dinner just drags on and on, and he spends most of the time checking his watch. When conversation does come around to him, he makes sure to remind their company just how important he is at his job, and how important the work that he and Vicia do is. They seem just as bored with him as they were with Vicia, which is infuriating, but he manages to keep his frustration under wraps, keeping it cool as he continues to talk down to them whenever he has the chance to do so.

The date simply can’t end soon enough, and Faba is immensely relieved what the bill has been paid- Lance, the showoff, tries to pay for the two of them as well, and Faba has none of that, causing Vicia to give him the most nauseating smile, causing him to realize, too late, that this must really feel like a real date to her. He might never hear the end of this one, but at the same time, it almost feels worth it. After all, he certainly feels like he has done a good job of putting Lance in his place tonight.

Once they are away from the other couple, Vicia gushes about how grateful she is, even going so far as to ask Faba is he wants to come back home with her. There is a very big part of him that would not mind being able to blow off some steam right away, but he has already pushed the boundaries of their professional relationship enough tonight. Going home with her would be too much, and so, he declines.

“We’ll pick up where we left off at work,” he says, before he bids her goodnight.

~X~

Meanwhile, Lance and Lyra are both very relieved to finally be alone again.

“So, she was a friend of yours growing up?” he asks.

“I’m not sure if I would say that. It’s just, we knew each other, and it was a small town, and…Vicia isn’t bad, really, just a lot to keep up with. She seemed really excited tonight, which was good, I just…” Lyra tries to explain. “You don’t think I was rude to her, do you?”

“I don’t think so, she did seem to be enjoying herself. Her boyfriend, though…he’s something else.”

“Yeah, not really sure what she’s doing with a guy like that.”


	6. Chapter 6

The year goes by so quickly. His daily routine continues, with Vicia at his side, and Faba spends as little time as possible actually thinking about her, outside of fucking her. He knows that there has to be more to his feelings than he would ever want to admit, and so, it is easier to just ignore it, and pretend that everything is fine. After all, the only reason that he still allows her to be so close to him is so that he does not risk her exposing him because he did not do what she wanted.

Before he knows it, Christmas is upon them. Faba has never been a big holiday person, or at least not since he was a child. He does not have any family in Alola, and has not been in contact with his family in many, many years. The only significance that Christmas has is extra time off, and time off means very little to him when he has built the bulk of his identity around his position as the branch chief.

“I’m not really doing anything for Christmas myself,” Vicia says to him, unprompted one afternoon. “I don’t go back home, really, so I don’t have any plans. What about you? Visiting relatives or anything?”

“I don’t have any plans,” he replies. “I suppose I’ll make an appearance at the party on Christmas Eve.”

“Oh, is there a party?” She turns to face him, beaming.

“Every Christmas Eve, there’s a small party, for anyone who doesn’t travel for the holidays. You’re…more than welcome to come, of course.” Parties aren’t really his thing either, but he stills shows up, if only because it looks good for him, even if he couldn’t actually care less. Actually, he would probably be better off if she didn’t come, but someone is probably going to invite her either way. Unless some of the crueler coworkers are conspiring to keep her from finding out about it to keep away, but Faba is sure that’s just his own paranoia acting up, and besides that, he doesn’t know why that would matter to him. It still wouldn’t be  _ his _ fault, if that were the case.

“If you’re going to be there, then I definitely am,” she says with a big, toothy grin. “Oh, but don’t worry, I won’t try to get too cozy or anything. We’re still top secret!”

When she says things like that, it almost makes him think that he might have completely misinterpreted her meaning back then, and that he really might have been right in assuming that she is stupid for that kind of blackmail. Maybe she’s just been reassuring him that she won’t tell anyone all along, and maybe there has never been any risk of exposure. But if he admits to that possibility, then he will have to face the fact that everything he has done to keep her appeased all this time has been pointless, and then he will have to wonder why that does not bother him nearly as much as it should. Better to be safe than sorry and keep her happy just in case, and better not to look too deep into any other possibilities.

~X~

There are rarely any stellar performances at karaoke during the Christmas Eve party, but Vicia’s attempt really blows the others out of the water, in terms of just how terrible it is. If they all thought her speaking voice was obnoxious, it is nothing compared to her singing voice, which at least serves as a good distraction from the nature of her song. But Faba knows why she’s singing what she’s singing, the lyrics directed right at him, even if she’s keeping true to her word, and not even looking at him while she sings, after keeping her distance from him all night.

They actually have a lot in common, when it comes to parties. Standing in opposite corners, they make conversation when they have to, but otherwise keep to themselves. Vicia is a little bit different than him, because at the beginning of the night, she actually does try to initiate conversation, but it does not take long for her to retreat into herself, becoming like a mirror image of her superior. It reminds him a bit of when he was younger, still so low down in ranks that he would try conversing at parties, trying to see if he could boost his image a little bit, only giving up once he realized that he really wasn’t made for things like this.

Ordinarily, he would have left by now, and truth be told, Faba doesn’t know why he hasn’t. Now that Vicia is up there, wailing a song about how the only person she wants for Christmas is  _ you _ (definitely him), he wishes that he had left a while ago, not just to spare his ears, but because it’s terribly awkward, knowing that the reason she’s getting so emotional is because of him. And it’s not as if everyone else is completely oblivious to the meaning, either.

Plenty of people have caught onto her crush on him, even if they don’t know that the two of them are more involved than that. He can feel eyes on him every now and then, the entire time she belts her emotional number, and he knows that he should have left after the first hour, like he had planned to. Leaving before the karaoke starts is always the best course of action.

If he had left before Vicia started singing, he also would not have started feeling bad for her. He knows that he has no business feeling bad for her, and that the last time he did, he ended up going on that horrible double date with her, but he keeps remembering her talking about her lack of plans for Christmas, how excited she seemed when she found out she could stand in the same room as his on Christmas Eve, at a party where he would not talk to her, and where nobody else would talk to her either.

He feels bad for her, so bad that he feels like doing something stupid, and by the time her song has ended, he has already made his decision, and even his most rational side is unable to talk him out of it. It’s just one night, and it’s Christmas, and at least this way, he won’t be alone for the holiday either.

He gives it a few more songs before he goes over to talk to her, not wanting anyone to see him approaching her immediately after she sang her feelings for him. As he walks up to her, he sees her brighten, before checking over her shoulder, as if to make sure that no one had managed to wedge themselves between her and the wall without her noticing, because that would be the only way that Faba was not approaching.

“Vicia,” he says in a low voice, that he knows no one else will be able to hear over the noise. “Would you like to spend the night with me?”

“M-Mr. Faba?!”

“Just for the night. I think it would be nice to unwind after a boring party like this, so if you’d like to come over for a bit, that would be fine.” He corrects himself when he sees how big her grin has gotten. “O-only because it would be too weird to go back to my office tonight.”

“Of course, I’d love to,” she says, just barely able to keep her volume under control. How they have managed to keep anything a secret, with how excitable she is, is completely beyond him.

“We can meet up somewhere, and I’ll show you the way there,” he replies. They agree on a place and time, and he leaves, telling her to wait at least ten minutes before she leaves the party herself. This has got to be a mistake on his part, but he has already taken it too far to do anything about that.

~X~

Vicia is right on time, with a bag in her hand, running up to him with that same overjoyed smile on her face. “Hey, sorry if you’ve been waiting long!”

“Not at all, I’m ready to go if you are,” he says, and starts off, with Vicia following along behind him. It’s the first time either of them has gone home with the other, the second time that they have seen each other outside of a work setting. He knows she must be excited about it, but he has no idea why he is so nervous. It is unlikely that anyone they know will see them going home together, after all.

By the time he gets inside, he has not been able to rid himself of the nervous feeling, and so, he doesn’t want to waste a second. He leads Vicia straight to his bedroom, where he sets to stripping her down. All the while, she giggles, giddy with excitement, the newness of the situation and his hastiness fueling that. The only thing he wants to do is fuck her hard enough to forget everything else on his mind, his Christmas present to himself, for being such a good boy all year, only making one major error, in the form of Vicia, and still handling that whole thing very well, taking such good care of his assistant. He even went on a fake date with her! Surely he has done more than enough to make up for that one lapse in judgment, and can say, overall, that he has been very, very good this year.

Faba ends up with his face between her legs, Vicia’s hand on the back of his head, moaning as he eats her out. It’s the first time they’ve done something like this, he thinks, but she seems to be loving every second of it, and he wonders why he has not done it before. It may be a little one-sided for the moment, but it’s one-sided when she sucks him off in between meetings, when he does not have time for anything more than that, and that has never been a problem. This helps get her ready for him, anyway, so maybe he should do it more often.

Soon enough, he is on top of her, with Vicia begging him for more, whimpering and whining as he pushes into her. She’s gotten into a bad habit lately, of letting her feelings slip when they’re fucking, and then apologizing later, telling him not to think anything of it, that she understands her place, and that she understands the meaning of their professional relationship. So often, she will tell him that she loves him, and then apologize and assure him that he does not have to worry about what she’s said, but she never says that it isn’t true, and at this point, Faba knows that it isn’t true.

At this point, he knows that she’s never been malicious, she’s never been out to get him, and she’s never been blackmailing him. At this point, he knows that her feelings are completely genuine. It’s just easier to pretend that he does not know any of that.

Tonight is no different, her emotions still high as he fucks her, leaving her moaning her feelings to him, so lost in pleasure that she is incapable of holding her tongue. It never really  _ bothers _ him, but it leaves this pit in his stomach, and tonight, that is more noticeable than ever, making it difficult to get lost himself, making it difficult to take his mind off of things, which was supposed to be the whole point of bringing her here. Some Christmas present to himself, if all this is going to do is make him worry even more about the situation, and continue overthinking things that he just does not understand.

When all is said and done, and the two of them are laying in his bed- the first time anyone other than him has been in his bed, come to think of it- Vicia asks if she needs to leave soon, or if she can stay the night. Faba should probably kick her out, but it’s Christmas Eve, and that is as good of an excuse as any to tell her that she can just go home in the morning, that it’s too dangerous for her to leave at this hour.

“Is it alright if I give you your Christmas present?” she asks, surprising him.

“You got me a present?” he asks. This is the first that he’s heard of it, but he remembers that she had a bag with her when they met up. He thought she had just packed some stuff in case he did let her stay over, but there should be enough room for a small gift in there.

“Yeah! Let me go get it!” She gets out of bed and hurries to grab her bag, bringing it back as he sits up in bed. She pulls out two sloppily wrapped boxes and says, “Here! Open the bigger one first.”

They are both small, but he opens the bigger of the two, finding a plain box beneath the paper, and, when he opens that a mug. There is a message written on it, saying  _ Best Branch Chief _ , and Vicia beams as she watches him read it. “I had to get it custom printed!” she explains. “They don’t, you know, make branch chief mugs ordinarily.”

“Thank you, that’s very thoughtful,” he says, surprised by just how touched he really is. He swallows hard before she urges him to open the other one. This one is clearly a watch box, but the watch inside is very nice, on the expensive side, engraved with his initials.

“Do you like it?” she asks, staring at him with wide eyes.

“It’s lovely, Vicia, I…thank you.” He has no idea what he is supposed to say at a moment like this.

“I wasn’t sure if I should give them to you or not. I’ve been holding onto them pretty much all month, so I’m glad you invited me over, cos that gave me the chance to give them. I almost didn’t give them at all, actually.” She blushes as she says it, looking sheepish.

“But, Vicia, this watch…it looks expensive, and both of these are customized. You put a lot of thought and money into them, if you hadn’t given them to me, you couldn’t have given them to anyone else,” he says, certain that she understands that without him explaining it.

“I know, it’s just…well, I didn’t want to do it if it was gonna make you unhappy…but since you invited me over, I thought it was okay,” she says. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Faba. Thanks for such a great year!”

“You should know that I don’t have a present for you,” he says. “I’m sorry about that, I just didn’t know we were…”

“You already gave me a gift! You let me spend the night with you, remember?” She cocks her head, her smile showing off her horrible teeth, her eyes bright and innocent, completely sincere, as if letting her spend one night with him, as an afterthought, is really on par with the gifts that she has given him.

He has spent a lot of time getting to know Vicia, a lot of time listening to her ramble and a lot of time coming to understand her. He has spent a lot of time concerning himself with what others think of her, and a lot of time running from what  _ he _ actually thinks of her, but when she smiles at him like that, as if he is the kindest person in the entire world, as if he has done her some great service just by spending time with her, he can’t run from it anymore.

It is only at that moment that Faba realizes that he has fallen in love with her.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in my writing updates, please follow my fanfiction twitter @WattStalf  
> 


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